Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1887-07-23

side, trembling Ike leaves, and with the cold
pcrspiration OF terror pouring from our skins.
And then, as before, tie light went out like
a lamp.
For some half hour we lay thus without
Speaking word and then at length we began
70 creep along the great spur as best VIC might
In the dense gloom As we got toward the
face OF the cliff, however, from which the
spur sprung out like spike from wall, tho
light increased, though only very little, for
it was night overhead.
We Were even without drop Of water TO
stay our thirst for we had drunk the last in
tho chamber Of Moot How were wo TO SEQ
TO make our way through this last bowlder
strewn tunneli
Clearly all that we could do was to trust to
our sense of feeling and attempt the passage
in the dark; so in we crept, fearing that il
we delayed TO do so our exhaustion would
overcome us, and we should probably lie
down and die where wo were.
Oh, tho horrors Of that last tunnel The
place was strewn with rocks, and we fell over
them and knocked ourselves up against them
till we were bleeding from score OF wounds.
Our only guide was the side of the cavern.
which we kept touching, and so bewildered
did wo grow in the darkness that we were
several times seized with the terrifying
thought that re had turned and were travel
ing the wrong way. On we went feebly,
and still more feebly, for hour after honr.
stopping every few minutes to rest, for our
strength was spent. Once we fell asleep, and,
/ think, must have slept for some hours, for,
when We woke, our limbs were quite stiff and
the blood from our blows and scratches had
caked and was hard and dry upon our skin.
Then we dragged ourselves on again, till at
| last when despair was entering into our
hearts, we once moro beheld the light of the
day and found ourselves outside the tunnel In
tho rocky fold on the outer surface of the cliff
that, it viii be remembered, led into it.
1t was early morning. It had taken us the
entire night to crawl through that dreadful
place.
"One more effort, Leo,r gasped, aand we
shah reach the slope where Billali Is, IL he
hasn't gone. Come, don't give way" for he
had cast himself upon his face. He got up,
and, leaning on each other, we got down that
fifty feet or so Of cliff--somehow--I have not
the least notion how. only remember that
we found ourselves lying In heap at the
bottom, and then once more began to drag
ourselves along on our hands and knees to-
ward the grove where She had told Billali TO
wait her rearrival, for we could not walk an
other foot We had not gone fifty yards in
this fashion, when suddenly one of the mutes
emerged from some trees ON our left, through
which, presume, he had been taking O
morning stroll, and came running UP to see
what sort of strange animals we were He
stared, and stared, and then held up his hands
in horror and nearly fell to tho ground Next
he started off as hard as he could for the
grove, some 200 yards away. No wonder
that he was Mortified at our appearance, for
we must have been shocking sight To be-
gin, Leo, with his golden curls turned a snowy
white, his clothes nearly rent from his body
his worn face and his hands mass of bruises
cuts and blood-incrusted filth-was suf
fieiently alarming spectacle as he painfully
dragged himself along the ground, and have
no doubt that was little better. l know
that two days afterward. when looked al
my face in some water, scarcely knew my
SELF | have never been famous for beauty
but there was something besides uglines,
stamped upon my features, that have never
got rid Of until this day--something resem
Bling that wild look with which startled
person wakes from deep sleep more than any.
not to be wondered at. What do wonder
OF /, that we escaped at all with our reason
Presently to my intense relief saw old Bill
lali hurrying toward us, and even thea
could scarcely help smiling at the expression
OF CONSERVATION on his dignifled countenance
"Oh, my Balloon! my Baboonl" he cried
"my dear son, is it indeed thee end the Lion
Why, his fiane that was as ripe as corn i
white like the snow. Whence come We, anc
where is the Pig, and where, too, She-who
must-be-obeyedp
"Dead, both dead" answered; shut asl
not questions; help us, and give us food ant
J water, or we, too, shall die before thine eyes
Seest thou not that our tongues are black fol-
J want of water! How can we talk then9"
"Deadl" he gasped; ''impossiblel She whc
never dies, dead, how can it ber and ther
perceiving, think, that his face was being
watched by the mutes who had come running
up he checked himself and motioned to then
J to carry us to the camp, which they did.
Fortunately when we arrived some brotl
was boiling on the fire, and with this Billal
, fed us, for we were too weak to feed our
selves, thereby, | firmly believe, saving u
from death by exhaustion. Then he babe tn
rlutes wash the blood and CRIME from as will
wet cloths, and after that we were laid dow
upon piles of aromatic srass and Instant,
fell into the dead sleep of absolute exhaustion
of mind and body.